Day
8: Wednesday, 13 MarchOn the eighth day
of UNFF-2, ministers and delegates engaged in a dialogue with heads
of member organizations of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests.
Delegates also met in Working Group I in the morning and evening to
address combating deforestation and forest degradation, and in a contact
group in the afternoon and evening to consider criteria for the review
of the effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests.

Opening
Plenary

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In his opening statement, Juan Mayr, Minister of the Environment
of Colombia and Chair of the ministerial dialogue, explained that
the topics to be covered woud be: cross-sectoral harmonization,
including fostering synergies between forest-related instruments
and organizations; forests and current international political and
policy agendas; forest conservation, protection and use; and financing
for SFM. Listen
to Mayr's statement

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Hosni El-Lakany, Chair of the CPF, explained that the CPF's objectives
are to strengthen collaboration and coordination among its members,
and support the UNFF's work. Listen
to El-Lakany's statement

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Spain, on behalf of the EU, recommended that the CPF, with the UNFF
Secretariat, elaborate a simple reporting framework to guide the
preparations for UNFF-3.Listen
to EU's statement

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In his welcoming address, Jag Maini, Head of the UNFF Secretariat,
noted that this was the first time ministers would engage in dialogue
with heads of CPF member agencies.Listen
to Maini's statement

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Chair Øistad presented the Chair's summary of the multi-stakeholder
dialogue, which was held during the first week of UNFF-2. Listen
to Øistad's report

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Venezuela, on behalf of the G-77/China, noted that dialogue with
heads of CPF organizations will help developing countries to formulate
national policies.Listen
to G-77/China's statement

Critical
issue #1:
Cross-sectoral harmonization

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Klaus Töpfer, UNEP Executive Director, highlighted the important
role of forests in carbon sequestration and biodiversity, and in
overcoming poverty. Listen
to Töpfer's statement

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Costa Rica stressed that the multi-functionality of forests requires
cross-sectoral approaches, and highlighted the need for cross-sectoral
coordination and harmonization of policies in national-level planning.

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Dennis Tirpak, UNFCCC Coordinator, discussed recently-agreed forestry
and land use activities under the Kyoto Protocol, which should lead
to new sources of income for forest owners who want to "grow"
carbon. He also highlighted development of new good practice guiding
for reporting, and a joint liaison group to address synergies between
the UNFCCC, the CBD and the CCD. Listen
to Tirpak's statement

Critical
issue #2:
Forests and current international political and policy agendas

South Africa stated that deforestation and forest degradation continue,
despite adoption of SFM policies, and noted that forest degradation
can only be addressed by reversing the cycle of poverty and powerlessness
in underdeveloped regions. Listen
to South Africa's statement

<
Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs,
noted the "tremendous erosion of public funding for forestry."
He underscored the importance of connecting the forest agenda with
the broader agenda of sustainable development. Listen
to Desai's statement

Above,
from left to right: David Kaimowitz, Director General of CIFOR;
Desai; Maini; Mayr; Vladimir Zelenov, ECOSOC Secretariat; and Frank
Pinto, UNDP; during the ministerial dialogue on forests and current
international political and policy agendas.

Critical
issue #3:
Forest conservation, protection and use

<
Hama Diallo, UNCCD Executive Secretary, advocated restoration to
combat land degradation and poverty, and called for participation
of all stakeholders.
Listen to Diallo's statement

<
Andrew Deutz, IUCN, stressed the need to balance conservation
with sustainable livelihoods, and highlighted progress in forest
landscape restoration. He stated that at WSSD, countries could
repeat what was agreed to in Rio, or they could forge the partnerships
required to make those commitments happen. He said that "those
who want to see a workable marriage between development and conservation
should shift attention from the myth of win-win - supposing that
all parties can get everything they want - to a practical understanding
of how land-use trade-offs can be equitably balanced."
Listen to Deutz's statement

<
The US stressed innovative public-private partnerships, and discussed
areas where it is working through greater consistencies in policies,
planning and implementation and through partnerships, including
forest health and wildfires, watershed approaches, invasive species,
illegal activities, stakeholder involvement, and coordination of
planning and policy frameworks. Quoting Theodore Roosevelt, he stated
that "conservation means development as much as protection".
He emphasized the importance of domestic production and consumption.
Listen to US's introductory statement

<
Hamdallah Zedan, Executive Secretary of the CBD, said the action-oriented
work programme on forest biological diversity under consideration
addresses conservation, sustainable use and benefit sharing; creation
of institutional and socioeconomic enabling environments for implementation
of the work programme; and knowledge assessment and monitoring.
He said plantations have a role to play, but cannot compensate for
loss of primary forests or biodiversity.
Listen to Zedan's statement

Critical
issue #4:
Financing for sutainable forest management

<
Mohamed El Ashry, CEO of the GEF, stressed the need to leverage
private capital, and to strengthen policies and institutions, for
the implementation of IPF/IFF proposals for action.
Listen to El Ashry's statement

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Manoel Sobral, ITTO Executive Director, iterated that the lack of
private investment in natural forest management can be explained
by the fact that in economic terms, natural forests are not an efficient
way to produce timber. Noting falling levels of ODA, he suggested
a campaign to educate populations in developed countries on the
global services provided by forests, especially those in the South,
and to encourage the North to pay for these services.
Listen to Sobral's statement

<
Odin Knudsen, World Bank, highlighted the Bank's recently adopted
forestry policy. He said SFM is going to be funded primarily through
the private sector, and stressed the importance of attracting socially
and environmentally responsible investment. He highlighted issues
related to governance, including community resource management,
illegal logging, financial instruments, monitoring and evaluation
of targets and goals. He noted that illegal activities represent
major losses of revenue for governments.
Listen to Knudsen's statement

Working
group & contact group

Above:
After two day of postponement , delegates met in
the contact group to consider the criteria for review of the
effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests.
The group was chaired by Stefan Leiner (European
Community, center).

As was the case yesterday, delegates met in late-night sessions.
Above, Working Group I met on the 23rd floor of the Two UN Plaza
building, while the contact group on criteria for evaluation met
one
floor below.

Side
event: Support for National Forest Programmes

This side
Event co-hosted by the Programme on Forests (PROFOR) and the National
Forest Programme Facility focused on how these two programmes support
countries pursuing national forest programmes (NFPs).

Christian
Mersmann, Director of PROFOR (left), noted the objectives of
PROFOR include to: generate and share information on issues important
to national forest programmes; assist in positioning NFPs in relation
to overarching national strategies on poverty reduction, sustainable
development and biodiversity conservation; provide case studies and
experiences on NFP processes; and build national capacity to support
NFPs. He highlighted PROFOR's recent relocation from UNDP to the World
Bank as its host organization, and explained that PROFOR will continue
to operate as an independent programme governed by its Management Board.

Michael
Martin, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, right), overviewed
the NFP Facility which is housed in the FAO. He said the NFP Facility
will provide catalytic funding to countries in support of their NFP
and a knowledge-sharing platform in support NFPs. He stressed the importance
of cooperation between PROFOR and NFP Facility in this regard.

In the
ensuing discussion, participants stressed the need for more comparison
and synthesis of experiences from NFP processes. They also touched upon
the importance of bringing such information into the public domain,
and the need for sharing of experiences between practitioners in countries,
possibly through regional workshops. One participant emphasized that
NFP process support should be long-term to be effective. Another participant
underscored making the link between NFPs and overarching agendas such
as structural adjustment processes, sustainable development and poverty
reduction strategies.